A/N: Thank you guys who already favorited, followed, and reviewed for the prologue! You're amazing, Sparks! I know I say this every time, but please enjoy the chapter!
Disclaimer: Don't own PJO, and neither should you, unless your name is Rick Riordan! I only own my OC's and the plot!
Time skip 5 months
Nico once again found himself meandering in and out of his daily routine, seeming to always end up by the Sound's shores. He had grown to like the ocean, but he still wouldn't dare venture into its depths, at least, not without Percy.
The sun was brutally beating down overhead, plastering Nico's shaggy hair to his forehead and neck. Ever since Percy's death from Camp Jupiter five months ago, Nico hadn't been taking care of himself like he should've been. He had slowly reverted back into his cold, introverted shell, putting distance between people that tried to be his friend, while only opening up to those he knew before. He was always by himself, except for the three times a day Jason would walk into his cabin with a plate full of food, making him eat the entire thing while making sure he could keep it down. Nico didn't like the daily meetings the he and Jason shared in his cabin, but he knew if Jason didn't bring his meals, he probably wouldn't have eaten at all.
Nico had lost weight after Percy's death, shedding about fifteen pounds. While some people might've wanted to lose fifteen pounds, Nico was barely borderline at a healthy weight for his age before Percy disappeared, for Will had given him the same treatment Jason was doing now. His clothes hung limply off his skinny frame, but it didn't really bother Nico-he had been like that before.
He continued walking down the beach, scowling at the waves that would rush to meet the shore before receding again. His hands were clenched fists in his pocket, his jaw set in irritation. The blue seashell around his neck felt like a lead weight tied around him, dragging him down. As much as Nico had wanted to break the shell while cursing Poseidon for not protecting Percy liked he had promised, it was one of the last things that reminded him of Percy that he could constantly have.
Nico stopped, sighed, and ran his fingers through his unkempt hair. Usually the beach made him feel better, but right now it was overwhelming, especially with the sixth month coming up. Nico now knew how Annabeth must've felt the first time Percy disappeared without a trace.
He remembered taking a train from D.C. back to New York with Piper and Jason when he got an Iris message from Hazel, who was in tears, saying that Percy had been kidnapped. As if that wasn't enough, he learned from his sister that he had been disowned by Poseidon, and that the Soul Switch magic had left him practically insane. Bianca had left Camp Jupiter in hopes of finding Hecate to bargain with her for a cure, but a rumor began to spread that Hecate had betrayed the Olympians, again. And Kronos had disappeared as well, again.
His life would never be easy, would it?
Then the day came that he felt his soul, if you could even call it that at this point, enter the Underworld. Nico had tried to summon his soul to talk, but when he appeared, he was so transparent, the slightest gust of wind broke the connection almost instantly. He was heartbroken once more. He knew he shouldn't have uttered those three words-the three words that was a death sentence to everyone he said them to.
Sighing once more, he turned away from the beach and began heading back to the cabin area. He was just about to pass the volleyball courts on the edge of the beach when a tanned hand caught him in the shoulder. Nico scowled, clamped his hand around the person's wrist, and judo flipped them over his shoulder, before planting a foot on their chest, preventing them from getting up. His expression softened mildly when he realized who he was pinning down.
"Sorry about that, Will."
The son of Apollo gave him a warm smile in reply. "I knew you were strong before, but immortality suits you well."
Nico gave him a half-hearted smile, but couldn't keep the grimace off his face. Every time he talked to Will, he couldn't help but feel an air of awkwardness between the two of them. Yeah, you wouldn't be too keen on your ex-boyfriend dating his first crush, because you had died on a suicide quest your father gave you.
"I was pretty surprised when Zeus offered it to everyone," Nico replied, helping Will up from his fallen position.
"I was even more surprised when he brought me and Annabeth back."
At the winter solstice, six months ago, Nico had finally found out what that conversation Poseidon had with Percy at the bottom of the sound a few weeks prior to his kidnapping. The conversation they had had the day Nico went to visit Sally. Speaking of which, he would need to talk with her sometime soon.
Anyways, Poseidon had somehow managed to convince the entire council to grant the seven (minus Percy), Reyna, Nico, and Will (Nico thought that was his father's suggestion) partial immortality for the time being, and when Percy was found, they'd all become gods-their parent's lieutenants. But when the gods caught drift of Percy's death, they upheld their promise still, asking if they wanted to become gods. No one accepted the gift, instead saying they would want to join Percy in Elysium someday instead of living forever.
"Nico?" Will asked, waving a hand in front of his face.
"Hmm?" Nico blinked twice before realizing that Will had been trying to get his attention, while he had been deep in his own thoughts.
"Did you even hear me?"
"No," he admitted, fingering the shell around his neck subconsciously. It had become a habit of his, one that he felt bittersweet about.
"You're thinking about him again, aren't you?" Will clapped him on the back twice, before he mouthed something to his teammates, leading Nico away to a secluded place not too far off from the beach.
"Yeah." Nico bit the inside of his lip, the awkwardness he usually felt coming in like an impending storm. "But at least I know he's in a better place. That's more than I could've wished for."
Will grimaced, pursing his lips into a fine line as he looked over Nico with his doctoral eyes. It was like he was searching for something Nico was hiding, something he wasn't telling anyone about. But Nico had nothing to hide, so the look made him want to squirm.
Will opened his mouth, paused, and then spoke. "Just…be careful what you wish for, okay?" Will looked him over once more, before running back to the volleyball courts, leaving Nico by himself with a confused look on his face.
"Okay, I guess," Nico mumbled to himself, shrugging off Will's comment. He glanced back at the beach one more time, relishing in the cool breeze the sea brought on this unbearably hot day before finally heading back to his cabin, content with locking himself away from the rest of the world.
Percy gritted his teeth as Kronos's scythe opened a gash on his upper thigh while Triton continued to relentlessly attack him with the broadsword in his hand, not afraid to hit him with the hilt, then using that momentum to cut him once more. Percy parried a blow to the back of his knee with Riptide, continuing his fluid motion and knocking Triton's left foot out from underneath him, causing the sea prince to lose his balance.
Triton cursed in a language that sounded suspiciously like a dolphin, yet Percy could completely understand him. Had Poseidon heard his eldest son, he'd probably wash his mouth out with a bar of soap.
Poseidon.
His name alone was enough to send Percy into a wave of unbridled anger as he suddenly turned into a demon, slashing and hacking at both Kronos and Triton, forcing them on the defensive unless they wanted some very painful wounds inflicted on them. Percy roared, water bursting from the pipes as he shot various water spears and ice daggers as his combatants, aiming for joints that provided vital range of motion: the shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. He couldn't help but grin when he heard a grunt of pain escape one of their lips, meaning he had landed a blow.
He jumped over Triton's sword-a hit that would've sent him sprawling-before pivoting on his left foot, landing a roundhouse kick to his brother's face just below the eye, where his cheekbone was. The bone broke with a sickening CRUNCH as Triton collapsed to the training room floor, ichor flowing from his cheek and the other wounds he had received during the fight. With Triton out of the equation, all that left for Percy was Kronos.
Percy was bouncing on the balls of his feet, light as a feather, and ready to jump like a coiled spring the second that Kronos would make his move. He observed his Titan grandfather, hoping to see anything that he might use as an advantage.
Kronos still looked like Luke, even though he was stronger now than when he was first revived, but Percy had grown accustomed to seeing his old, not friend per say, but cabin mate with molten gold eyes instead of baby blue ones. He had a split lip from when Percy knocked his scythe out of the way in a movement that sent the curved tip against his lips. An ugly bruise was forming on his shin; a few gashes here and there lay scattered on his chest and arms; but the deepest wound he had was by his elbow, where Percy had ducked from defending against Triton, letting his own brother open the wound while he rolled away, hoping to catch even the slightest reprieve against his relentless trainers.
Trainers, he thought. Why does that feel so wrong to call them trainers?
Percy had been feeling those kind of doubts for about a month now…and it terrified the living schist out of him. These were his friends/superiors; he couldn't doubt them, not unless he wanted to be whipped again, or shoved in a box only the most skilled contortionist could hope to fit into. It had taken him a week when he first woke up to be properly conditioned into one of Pontus's best soldiers. All he had to do was follow the five rules:
1. Pontus' orders were never to be questioned; complete them perfectly.
2. Listen to his superiors.
3. Treat all the generals with respect. Meaning, don't look them in them in the eyes without their permission, and don't even think about speaking without their permission.
4. Obey the curfew. It doesn't matter if you had the most prophetic dream about the apocalypse happening tomorrow-stay in your barrack and wait until morning, unless you wanted to spend the night in Thalassa's torture chamber.
5. Don't even think about becoming a traitor. You'd be tortured until all the useful information was extracted from your brain, then you'd painfully executed in front of everyone as they would mock and taunt and curse your name to the wind.
The punishment for breaking rules 1-4 is forty-five lashes with Nyx's Night Whip, and the punishment for rule 5 was already stated: death.
Percy had never broken any of the rules during his time here, with the exception being his first week here when he accidently looked at Lady Selene in the eye. He had been chained to the obsidian walls of the throne room while all of Pontus's generals relished in his screams as Lady Nyx whipped him with a whip that was more painful than all the Furies and Kampe's combined. His back was littered with those scars now, but they had faded over time.
He had seen others break the rules before: talking back defiantly, leaving their barracks at night, but he had seen far too many traitors in their midst. Executions were bi-weekly with new traitors always popping up, spilling their limited intel to the Olympians. Their information died with them, and Erebus made sure their souls were sent to Tartarus, so that Hades or his son, Nico di Angelo, could never interrogate them.
Nico di Angelo.
Again a wave of anger coursed through his body, and his senses opened up, making it seem like the strike Kronos thrusted was moving at the speed of a dying snail. Percy feinted a blow exceptionally fast to Kronos's injured arm, but by the time his grandfather fell for the trick, Riptide was already halfway into the Titan's abdomen as Percy wrenched his scythe out of his hand, placing a booted foot on his wrist, making sure he wouldn't summon the weapon back to his hand. He yanked an ichor covered Riptide out of Kronos, eliciting a painful shout from the body bleeding on the floor.
Percy pressed the tip of Riptide to the Titan's Adam's apple. "Do you yield?" he asked emotionlessly, almost like the fight had bored him. In reality, it was probably the most invigorating thing he had done all day, but he knew if he acted cocky or self-centered, it would almost certainly meant he would be at the receiving end of Nyx's whip.
Kronos gave a watery laugh, spitting ichor on the floor beside him. "I yield, Grandson."
Percy nodded his head in acknowledgement, cleaning the ichor off with the sole of his boot. He capped his sword, shoving the pen in the pockets of his military issued clothing: Black training shirt, gray cargo pants, black combat boots, and a black windbreaker. A silver medallion hung from the pocket his jacket had-a medal he had received for saving over twenty soldiers from an enemy attack, including one of Hecate and Helios's kids.
Pontus had said he was one of the finest heroes his army had to offer, and immediately thrust him into training to be one of his generals, but not like the other demigod and demi-titan children generals. No, Pontus offered him to be one of his generals, ranking higher than all the gods and Titans he had recruited, only answering to him and his wife, Thalassa. He couldn't turn down the offer, so he graciously accepted. That had been about two months ago, leading up to the situation he was currently in.
"Are you going to help me up, or are you too prideful?" Kronos questioned, cocking an eyebrow upward-a strange expression for Luke's face.
"Not at all, Lord," Percy replied automatically, avoiding his gaze as he helped his Titan grandfather to his feet. He flinched violently when he felt an ice cold hand slapped him across the face. He staggered back, holding his injured cheek, but not daring to look up into Kronos' cold glare.
"Look me in the eyes, boy." Percy looked up slowly, still rubbing small circles on his cheek, but the pain was already ebbing away. "We have been at this long enough. You should know how to properly address me, and you know you can look me in the eyes without my permission." Percy felt his gaze soften from steel to stone. "You know how Lord Pontus will react if he continues seeing these habits in you."
"I know, L-" He stopped himself mid-sentence at the pointed look Kronos was giving him. "Kronos. I'm still trying. Three months' worth of discipline and that one week of torture is enough to make anyone succumb to the fear."
"But not you. I've never seen you afraid. In pain and agony, yes, but never fear."
"I must have a better mask than I thought."
"Mask?" Kronos questioned, narrowing his eyes. "Have you been hiding something from us, Perseus?"
"Nothing of importance. Nightmares, past memories, those kinds of things," Percy replied, walking over to his fallen brother. He picked the god up, and hefted him onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry. "They terrify me; they're the reason nothing scares me other than the generals and my Lord and Lady."
Kronos seemed placated with his answer, even going so far as to give him a grin that wasn't malicious nor sadistic. It was almost like a smug expression, but again, Percy didn't question his superiors, even if he technically was above Kronos in power now.
"Selene won't be happy to see him again," Kronos said, nodding his direction of the body around Percy's shoulders.
"No kidding," Percy scoffed. "I've already lost count of the amount of times we've taken him to the infirmary this week alone."
"At least it's not as bad as Perses."
"Oh, if anything, Perses is worse than this dumbo."
Kronos gave him an amused look, one that Percy just brushed off. He had gotten used to that expression on his grandfather's face. That and the look that said, "You-have-five-seconds-to-run-or-I'm-tearing-you-to-shreds."
"I agree with you on that. It's a wonder Pontus hasn't thrown him to the Void yet."
Percy stopped walking, turning to him in confusion. "What has he done to warrant such a fate? Yes, he's an idiot with an over-inflated ego and has a fuse the size of a grain of rice, but surely no one deserves that."
"Why do you stick up for him? He's been nothing but rude to you, more so after you gained your new positon."
It was hard to shrug with Triton's weight slowly slowing him down as they continued walking down the twisting corridors inside of the palace at the bottom of the ocean. At least someone was with him if he dropped the god instead of having to haul his immortal ass all the way to Selene, who was four floors above them in the infirmary. Thank the gods Pontus had enough knowledge of the modern world to install elevators on each of the floors.
"I…don't know," Percy answered truthfully, releasing a painful grunt as one of Triton's hands smacked him in the face, hitting an already forming bruise, while brushing by his split lip. Yeah, those two friends of his loved using him as a human punching bag, that is, until he started to fight back. "It just seems…" he struggled for the right word, before saying, "wrong to leave someone like that. To have your atoms ripped to shreds, without even a semblance of hope that you'd get to come back. What do you think?"
"He's a bastard. He deserves what's coming to him."
Once again, Percy shrugged off the dark tone in Kronos's voice. He didn't see what was so scary about the guy, unless you count being frozen in time or him wielding his scythe (which he still called Backbiter) terrifying. Eh…maybe to others, but not to him anymore.
The sound of a gong banging echoed through the empty corridors, save for the two of them. Guards that had been hiding throughout the palace leapt from their crevices, hustling down the long stretch of hallways to the spiral staircases, where they would ascend to the throne room eight floors above, prepared to risk their lives for the royal family.
"Damn it!" Percy swore, causing Triton to unceremoniously drop to the floor, moaning.
The guards parted around him like a rock in a riverbed, following their route upstairs. Kronos gruffly grabbed two of the last guards by the shafts of their spears, nearly slamming them into the wall, smashing a mirror that had been hanging there in the process. Glass shards littered the floor beneath their feet as the two guards were shaking so badly in their armor, it looked like they were going to need a change of underwear.
"Why did none of you stop to help your general?!" Kronos roared, knocking all the air out of the male guard.
Percy internally winced as the guard couched uncontrollably, trying to regain the ability to breathe. He berated himself for feeling sympathy for these pathetic excuse of guards. Pontus would have his hide whipped if he wasn't ruthless; but he couldn't make himself feel hostile towards them. These two Kronos had practically taken hostage were two children, probably no older than fourteen. The girl had wide purple eyes and black hair with a streak of blue dye. Her bottom lip quivering was the only sign that she was afraid, but other than that, nothing gave her away. The boy on the other hand was trembling like crazy, wholly terrified of the Titan King.
"Go to meet our Lord," said Percy, tapping Kronos on the shoulder, pulling a sadistic smile on his face. "I'll deal with these two."
For two seconds Kronos stood there, uncertainty glimmering in his gold eyes, before rushing behind the torrent of guards, screaming at them to get the hell out of his way unless they wanted to be gutted like a fish with his scythe. Let's say the guards scattered immediately.
"Please don't hurt us!" The girl pleaded, her blue eyes shining with fear she hadn't allowed herself to show with Kronos. Wait, blue eyes? Weren't they just purple?
"Tell me who you are, and I may be able to spare you." Percy looked from side to side, glad that they were alone. If he got caught sparring these two, he would most certainly be punished.
"I-I'm Andy, daughter of Ariana," the girl said shakily, her brown eyes swirling with concern. What the hell was going on with her eyes?! First they were purple, then blue, and now brown?!
"Olly, son of Iris."
Percy wondered why a child of Iris was allowed in such an elite army, but after he saw some of the other Iris kids fight, he could understand why he was allowed in. But honestly, he had no idea who in Pontus's name Ariana was.
"My mother is one of the minor, minor goddesses," Andy admitted, lowering her eyes. "Goddess of colors and emotions."
"I thought Iris was the goddess of colors."
"Nah, my mom's just goddess of rainbows," Olly supplied, still wheezing from getting punched.
Percy held up his hand. "That's all I need to know. Now, get this idiot to Selene before Kronos realizes I didn't hurt you like I should have."
"Thank you milord," both said graciously, moving quickly to lug the fallen god to the infirmary.
Percy ran a hand through his hair, sighing, before he vapor traveled to the throne room, slightly interested in what caused Pontus to sound the alarms, and completely dreading the strategy meeting that was inevitably going to be held afterwards.
Andy slumped in relief the second the door to her barracks shut, the familiar sound of the trumpets blaring "Taps" on the speakers. She didn't know who played the song, but it must've been someone who poured their soul into their music, a child of Apollo or Calliope perhaps? She sat on her bunk, mumbling the words under her breath:
"Day is done, gone the sun,
From the lake, from the hills, from the sky;
All is well, safely rest, God is nigh.
Fading light, dims the sight,
And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.
From afar, drawing nigh, falls the night.
Thanks and praise, for our days,
'Neath the sun, 'neath the stars, 'neath the sky;
As we go, this we know, God is nigh.
Sun has set, shadows come,
Time has fled, Scouts must go to their beds
Always true to the promise that they made.
While the light fades from sight,
And the stars gleaming rays softly send,
To thy hands we our souls, Lord, commend."
No one in her barrack other than she knew the complete poem. And it wasn't something she freely spoke about. The first time she had ever heard the song had been at her father's funeral, with his casket draped with an American flag, his military medals displayed in front of the portrait that was per the norm at military funerals. (A/N: To those of you that have family members in the service or who have died, I apologize if any of this is inaccurate as I have never had anyone from my family in the military.) The man that had played the song was her father's best friend. Tears had streamed down his face while he played the mournful tune, and she remembered how badly she had sobbed in front of his casket, praying that he would bang on the inside, screaming that he had been buried alive…but she knew in her heart he was dead. He had taken two rounds of assault rifle shots, which should've killed him instantly, but yet he managed to get his entire squad out of there, alive, until he immediately collapsed from his wounds.
Thomas, her father's best friend, had heard his last words, which he passed onto Andy when he got the chance. "'Tell her to keep on living, to move past my death. She's so strong. Take…take care of her…please. Protect…my…Andy.' And then his hand went slack, the bullets killing him. I'm surprised he didn't die sooner. Must've been magic or something." Thomas laughed without humor at that, clapping Andy on the shoulder once, before leaving her to converse with the people her father, Lincoln, had died trying to defend.
Only after monsters had ripped Thomas apart in their small apartment and a satyr escorted her to Camp Half-Blood, had she realized that the reason her father didn't instantly drop dead was that her mother had blesses her father with a few more seconds of strength and courage, giving him enough time to save his comrades. She could've bought him time, but she couldn't save him.
Andy snapped out of her dark thoughts when a gruff, "Lights out!" was shouted through the door of the barracks. It's not like they had much of a choice anyways; the warden controlled the power, not them.
The hum of the lights died instantly, and everyone in the barrack (which was about ten people, boys and girls) went deathly silent. After a few minutes of pure silence and the sound of snoring softly drifting in through the little square, barred window through the door, they all gave a nearly imperceptible sigh of relief.
The boy in the bunk across from Andy mouthed two words: "Your turn."
She nodded her head in understanding, brushing her hand by her wrist watch. She checked once more that the warden was still sleeping, before opening the compartment, almost like a gadget out of those spy movies.
"Chiron, are you there?" Andy whispered silently. Her barrack was completely full of spies for the gods, yet Pontus didn't seem to suspect a thing. They made sounds of sleeping loud enough so she could talk, but not so loud that she wouldn't be able to hear Chiron. "I've got information on Percy Jackson. He's alive."
